There are the gems -- duck-egg-size emeralds and ruby-like spinels -- that are hand-engraved with diamond styluses and inscribed with the names of their various owners, hailing from different dynasties and far-flung regions.

Jewel had been a nymph of the rock; it was her job to salt the earth with all the diamonds, emeralds, sapphires, rubies, opals, spinels, and other gemstones that prospectors were destined eventually to find.